Diana Ross
'Blue'
Universal/Motown CD
UK Release date July 2006

'Blue' is not a collection of new recordings - quite the opposite, and what a discovery!!. This is a compilation of songs which were originally scheduled for release in 1972 as a follow up to the hugely successful Lady Sings The Blues soundtrack which catapulted Ross into the role of actress as well as accelerating her mega successful solo career after she left the Supremes in 1969. The aforementioned film found Diana portaying her idol Billie Holiday and the films success is now past history and well documented elsewhere. Motown arranger and band leader Gil Askey who had worked with the Temptations on their live tours was tasked with working with Diana on this follow up LP which was even scheduled a US catalogue number but for one reason or another never saw the light of day as an LP release. Without going into the finer details of Ross' involvement with the film side of Motown is what she recorded on tape that is of interest here.

When it comes to taking on different musical styles nobody does it quite like Diana and her previous thirteen years fronting the worlds most successful female group of all time must have come in handy. This project, as with 'Lady' was to take some of the standard classics from the songwriting pens of the likes of Cole Porter, Jimmy Van Heusen, Rogers and Hart, and George and Ira Gershwin of which you just know that together with Motown musicians, arranger Gil Askey and Diana at the helm you are going to be in for something very special indeed, and here you have the CD 'Blue' now available for the world to enjoy and boy you are not going to be disappointed.

Standards such as 'What A Difference A Day Makes' 'I Loves Ya Porgy' and Let's Do It' are delivered with finesse and sheer class that only these guys can do taking these great songs and turning them into swing and crooner classics even from a Motown angle. We have recently seen such CD's from the likes of Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams, and Paul Anka to name a few but hey Diana's not copying here - she recorded these in 1972. Perhaps back then most of us MAY have ignored such projects from Motown favouring their classic normal sound instead but boy does it sound different to us now?

This whole CD is not only a  testament to the great lady but also to the great songwriters whose songs she performs here the likes of which we are unlikely to ever see again in this lifetime. This is Diana Ross at her simmering best - cocktail lounge music par excellence and a timely reminder of just was a potent force in popular music she was.

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